Dorset Summer 2014 :: Pootling

I think it is fair to say that Pootling is something I'm rather good at and is a skill I have in abundance. Are you all familiar with this word? This is what the online dictionary says....

"pootle" : verb : UK informal : to move somewhere slowly and with no real purpose.

 

Yes, just as I thought, that describes my perfect kind of holiday pastime very well, and this first installment of Dorset Tales is filled to the brim with all sorts of pootling activity. Gentle meandering along the beach, strolling around the harbour, sauntering out along the pier and along the promenade, then back around the harbour again. Pootling also necessitates plenty of stops for scenery appreciation and thirst quenching, with the odd little sweet treat thrown in for good measure. Then there is the homely sort of pootling that involves mild activity in the garden, reacquainting with familiar surroundings and reconnecting with family members. It's all rather slow, relaxed and easy, a tad lazy even. Perfect holidayish activity.

You need to sit comfy and relax your shoulders now....I'm going to take you for a gentle stroll.......

 

 

Oh, wait a minute. This was the first day of our holiday last week, and so before we do any sort of real meandering, we need to eat breakfast. It's the Rule of the Dorset Holiday that we always go to the beach for breakfast on our first day. That's the café there look, it's called The Watchhouse. Isn't the location stunning? We like to sit outside on the decked area so that the Little People can be evicted straight onto the beach to play once they've eaten their nosh.

The coffee is always first class, and my cappuccino on that sunny Monday morning last week was asbolutely wonderful. My tummy was full of poached egg and bacon and buttery granary toast too, the perfect start to the day.

It's pretty great to be sat in a café that is situated slap bang on the beach itself. The seagulls swoop and cry overhead and occasionally stop by for a nosey, just to really reassure you that yes, you are indeed right on the beach, sat on their patch in fact. 

After a perfectly perfect breakfast experience, we can now get down to some serious pootling. 

We have shuffled across the shingle beach, jumped down over the low wall and are now strolling around the east side of the harbour.

West Bay does accommodate a thriving tourist industry with plenty of holidaymakers descending in the summer season, but essentially it is still a working harbour. Various fishes are hauled in from the boats on a daily basis, but also crabs, lobster and scallops are the catch here. There is a fishmonger just around the corner which boasts a huge tank in it's window housing live lobsters. It is both fascinating and awful to see those (very large) sea creatures and know that they are destined for someone's plate very soon. The Little People were absolutely fascinated with the still-living lobsters and we had to go back to the shop window several times to see them and wonder at how people could possibly purchase them in order to sling them into boiling water.

Moving on from the lobster thing, lets take a wander further around the harbour...

 ...which is looking as jaunty and gorgeous as it does in my memory. I always take far too many photos of the boats when I'm here, over and over, year after year, it's just one of the things that Mum Does. This year for the first time I had Little Lady shadowing me with her own camera, taking her own set of Pootling holiday pictures. Although I refused to let her lean out over the harbour wall to get this sort of shot, that's foolish and only for weirdos like me who are fascinated with daisy flowers growing out of walls. How DO they do that?! So impossibly pretty!

OH LooK!!!!!!!! This is new!!!!! In all the years I've been bumbling around this little place there have never been flowery boats.......

,....and oh look, another one, oh so pretty!!!!!! I just loved these boats so much, everything about them made me happy!

We are round the harbour now and at the beginning of the promenade (gotta love that word), and there is another beautiful flower boat. Happy happy!

We always walk out along the pier when we visit West Bay as the views west along the coast are spectacular from here. 

I love it in all weather's, but especially on a beautiful warm, clear-blue sunny day like this one.

I think we need some refreshment now, don't you? We'll walk back around the harbour then, and call at one of the dinky little kiosks to buy some ice cream.....

Oh mmmm, this is "cookies and cream" flavour (Little Man's choice), Little B (messy creature that he is) chooses messy chocolate and Little Lady settles for traditional vanilla. We sit on the sun warmed wall next to the green and wait for the whole lot to disappear, excepting Little B who ends up wearing quite a bit of his down the front of his t-shirt.

This was such a fabulous start to our holiday, I couldn't have wished for better. Happy times.

I have many favourite holiday bits, little rituals and traditions that we carry out year after year. One of my best favourite things is waking up in the early morning, opening the curtains and taking in the view of my childhood. Not only the view, but the scent of the air which is a hugely nostalgic thing for me. I don't know how to describe it, but it's so very different from the air of North Yorkshire. It's a mixture of sea and country, an infusion of salt and ozone and sea breeze and freshly cut grass, with a whiff of fragrant jasmine thrown in for good measure. To me, the air smells utterly delicious and I love to hang my head out of the window each morning when I first wake up and again at night before I climb into bead and inhale the fresh scent right down to my toes. Fill my whole body with that fresh smell.

Last week we ate every single meal outside. Every. Single. One. I would start my day with a mug of fresh coffee and some sort of hot, buttered toasted something or another, wearing my pyjamas, sat on the weathered wooden decking right outside the back door. I was often up before the Little People, and the peace and quiet of those early mornings were blissful.

Lunch each day was a picnic, usually eaten somewhere scenic and preferably with a sea view. Dinner was sometimes eaten in the garden and sometimes on the beach. Al fresco eating is high up on my list of feel-good things to do in the summertime.

We often spent the first part of the morning simply pootling in and out of the house and garden, easing gently into each day. We don't tend to make schedules or plans when we holiday in Dorset (which I know my parents find hard to deal with, sorry 'bout that folks). There is a certain luxury in waking up with a whole day stretching ahead and not having any real idea how you are going to fill the hours. Excepting that you know it will be fun and leisurely and sunny, and will involve good food prepared/cooked and eaten simply, and happy times spent with family gazing at beautiful scenery. That's it. That's the extent of the planning. Snail racing on this morning, as you can see. Aren't Dorset snails lovely? We don't find those stripy suckers here in Yorkshire, they are residents of southern chalky lands I think. 

We also made this amazing discovery one morning in the garden, a newly hatched moth drying it's still-rumpled wings in the warmth of the early morning sun. Wow, isn't it fantastic looking?! By the powers of the internet, we think this beautiful specimen is a Jersey Tiger Moth. The Little People weren't all that impressed, but I really was.

One thing we notice when we visit Dorset just twice a year is how it opens our eyes to the rapid growth and development of the Little People. We notice how much taller they are each time we visit, how much more energy they have, how their games change, and how the older ones sweetly accommodate their rapidly growing Little Brother. Little B is such a life force, honestly, that kid is quite the character. He isn't always easy to be with, he is demanding, and although he is only four he pretty much acts like he is ten. And yet he is only still four. Still falling over and grazing his knees, still crying when he loses his ball, still cross as hell when he can't get his own way. But this year for the first time we were able to open the front door and let all three Little Peeps run out and play without adult supervision. It was liberating for J and I. All we had to do was listen for any tell tale yelling/crying (which with Little B is hard to miss, always at full volume). They played ball, they played hide and seek, they scootered. Sometimes they just fooled about, playing the most ridiculous sounding character games (Little B often barking like a dog, Little Man often wailing like a baby etc etc). But it was wonderful to have all three of our offspring playing together last week which doesn't happen often at home any more (Little Man has outgrown his siblings of late, choosing his own company and seeking out his school friends).

Of course, our twice-a-year trips to Dorset mean more to me than just us taking a family holiday. It allows me to spend time with my parents, and for them to spend time with us. It is super-precious time, because it is so very short. Two weeks out of fifty two isn't a lot really, is it? But we make the most of it, and it's always good to reconnect with family, to clink glasses and celebrate the turning of another good year.

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ps will you come Visiting with me tomorrow? See you then...

 

♥...more little snippets from the attic...♥

Dorset Summer 2012 :: days 1&2

Dorset Summer 2013 :: part 1

Summer at Arnside :: part 1

Whitby in Winter

Comments

[Victoria Margerison]

We have a caravan near west bay so visit alot. It is a shame they built the 'apartments' it has changed the look of the place. We will be down for 2 weeks in September.

You inspired me to crochet again- now I am hooked!!! Your ripple blanket must take the blame.
Have a fab day.

vicki

[kayleigh]

'Pootle' is one of my favourite words :D

[Anna-Marie Field]

Precious time indeed!!!!!!! I could spend hours in that little harbor!!!!! Love the one planted up as well!!!! Have a happy weekend!!!
Love
AMarie xxx

[Laura]

Beautiful pics of Dorset! Here's another good use for an old boat! http://www.pinterest.com/pin/555702041494808427/

[Wendy Bassett]

Having been brought up in Yeovil, Somerset, I know West Bay really well. It's probably my dad's favourite place! I was delighted to come across your website last year & amazed when I saw the photos of West Bay. We don't do plans either, so I'm with you on the parents' reactions. My poor dad needs to know the night before what we're doing & we never know. Our 3 are grown up now & in their own homes, but we still don't make plans when we visit!

[Maureen]

I don't pootle much, but I putter a lot. I think it's the indoor version of the pootle.

[karen@mixture43]

Great pootle about in Dorset. x

[rabbitquilter]

Your were in my most favourite place!! I love the little boats with the flowers in. Apparently they are boats that were damaged in the winter storms. However, a few weeks ago in the local newspaper there was a letter complaining about them, saying they were dangerous as they may have sharp bits and folk may bump into them!!! Health and Safety gone mad again!!!! So if in West Bay, please mind how you go!!!! X

[Jane]

Ah Lucy -what a wonderful post! I feel like I've been on holiday without even leaving my house😄 Thank you so much for taking time to share your precious memories with us-you are a very generous and lovely lady! Xx

[Jen]

What a lovely pootle. I did enjoy my trip along with you. What a simply marvellous way to spend a holiday. *wistful sigh*

[Clare]

Such a lovely post
Clare x

[Marie]

I know what you mean about the scent of the air, Lucy. I moved from my native South of France to the UK years ago, and I get the same feeling every time I go back there. :) Thank you for sharing these precious moments with us!

[Shelley (w.cork)]

Loved ur first instalment of ur hols. I love the word pootling and I love to Pootle ( not too sure if that's the correct term. The scenery looks fab

[vanessa]

Oh I do a lot of pootling too. It sounds like you had a fab time away visiting your family. We do that when we visit Wales for a couple of weeks a year. It's also very nice when the time comes when the youngest child doesn't have to be watched 24/7 and you can have time to chat to other adults knowing that they are okay where they are for a short while. It was the nicest feeling when Baby Bear was old enough to get up and be downstairs on his own in the mornings without bounding on me at 5 each morning. It's such a luxury to sleep past 5!

I can't wait to see your ripple, I bet it's gorgeous. I just finished my second big ripple. It's HUGELY bright (no pastels surprise surprise!) and it has colourful pom poms on the ends that make my heart sing! I'm astounded at my pom pom love. Who knew!!!!!! ha ha!

I hope that you have settled back into daily life in Yorkshire and your longing for the sea air has calmed a bit. It's always such a come down isn't it when you arrive back after a lovely time away.

Take care my lovely xxxxx

[Joy]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Xx lots of love Joy Xx

[Angela-Southern USA]

Ah Lucy! Pootling is the best kind of vacation! Especially if your near a beach, I could pootle the entire time there. It's such a beautiful place I can see why you miss it so. I caught my breath when I saw the flower boats, just genius on someone's part! I'm always amazed by plants growing in unexpected places. Near here is a tree about four feet tall growing on the top of an abandon building (flat roof) I wonder every time I see it how long it will survive and how tall can it get. The live lobsters, reminds me of a friend who bought some to cook and nearly kept them as pets! (seriously, she played with them for hours!) lol I love the stairs covered by that tree and the light, just stunning. Thanks for sharing Lucy, I always enjoy the trip to Dorset.

[Juliane Salzmann]

So beautyful pictures!
And thank you for teaching me an new english word ;-)

[Marbada]

ooooohhh now I want to go on holiday again, to Dorset.....sigh........

[ann clements]

I do love a good pootle as well,your post is lovely lucy will be back tomorrow to read some more

[La fargussienne]

Feel like pootling along with you !

[Rae]

Pootling in Dorset is there a better way to spend a holiday trip? I don't think so ........(message to myself must take a trip to West bay ASAP)
A lovely post see you tomorrow x

[Holley Downs]

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures! I so enjoy seeing that part of our world which unfortunately I probably will never get to visit! I look forward to your posts! Thanks again for sharing with all of us!!!

[Inge]

Thank you for your lovely post!
I love the boat with the flowers very much!

[Sue Hall]

I feel like I have had a 5 minute virtual holiday! Thank you Lucy!

[Hilary Brown]

Lucy your post brought joy to my heart this morning. I shall look forward to all of your holiday posts